Tag: By Oladeinde Olawoyin

The Spectre of Jalumi, By Oladeinde Olawoyin

Oladeinde Olawoyin

“When brothers fight to death, Achebe warned, a stranger inherits their father’s estate. But the import of the immortal bard’s words seems to be lost on Osun gladiators; Gboyega Oyetola, the governor of Osun State, and Rauf Aregbesola, the immediate past governor and now Minister of Interior. Things seem to have fallen apart completely, and the falcon can no longer hear the falconer.”   At dawn, just before the sun rose above the horizon, the attacks were launched with feral intensity. By the time dusk fell, not a few Ilorin…

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A Requiem for Omo Aje, by Oladeinde Olawoyin

ADEOLA YUSUF

An emotional tribute woven in beautiful prose for the late Olubadan, Saliu Akanmu Adetunji   One hazy morning in the second half of the noughties, I was at the Odo-Oba residence of my grandfather, Folarin Olawoyin (a.k.a Alhaji J14), and our conversations drifted toward the persona of then Chief Saliu Akanmu Adetunji. Alhaji J14 had just returned to Ibadan from a campaign trip to Oke-Ogun, alongside the fearsome Lamidi Adedibu, his bosom friend. My memory of that encounter is now blurred, somewhat, by time but I remember now that the…

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Igboho, the Fly, by Oladeinde Olawoyin

Oladeinde Olawoyin

He wanted to fly, but he eventually became a fly. Sunday Igboho sneaked into Cotonou with a secret plan to fly to Germany, but, accidentally, he landed on the most sensitive part of Nigeria’s genitals. What do our elders say about a fly that perches on the scrotum? Caution. In July, weeks after he was declared wanted by Nigeria’s secret police, Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Sunday Igboho was arrested by the Beninese police while trying to travel to Germany, and then transferred to the Cotonou Criminal Brigade. He has since remained…

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Ota and its Totally Famished Road, By Oladeinde Olawoyin

Oladeinde Olawoyin

From Oju-Ore to Atan through Iyana Iyesi, the government generates taxes and levies with which it powers the generator at the government house in Oke-Mosan, erects bridges in Panseke, paves the dusty roads through Ijebu-Ode, equips hospitals in Iyana Mortuary, breathe life into old housing estates in Oke Ilewo, and transforms schools in Odogbolu.   Here lies the road to Sango-Ota, in all its filth and sludge, reeking of the lies of scheming politicians. It’s a major road that leads everywhere, and yet it leads nowhere. It’s the metaphor of…

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